Literacy Memoir, is a type of autobiographical writing focused on personal experiences that have to do with education

Literacy Memoir, is a type of autobiographical writing focused on personal experiences that have to do with education. In comparison to a research essay, this should feel like a very different type of writing–one that is more personal, creative, and open.

Your Literacy Memoir will be a story about a specific educational moment in your life. Usually, literacy memoirs relate to literacy-related activities like reading or writing–but they can also be about other experiences relating to education. For example, you could write about . . . 

• A specific, early memory of learning to write or read.
• The first book that made you love reading.
• The writing assignment that made you hate writing.
• The math class made you feel dumb.
• How you overcame a specific issue in your educational journey–a difficult assignment, teacher, subject; working with a learning disability; etc.
• A specific academic achievement that involved a lot of hard work and what you learned about it. 
• An educational experience that made you see yourself in a new light. 
• Any kind of other literacy experience: cultural, linguistic, financial, mathematical, computer, etc

Often literacy memoirs bring particular attention to the ways in which differences in one’s gender, race, class, (dis)ability or linguistic or cultural background, etc. shape literacy experiences. So you may focus on a specific experience in education where your identity (gender/race/class/ethnicity/ability/culture, etc.) was brought into sharp relief.